Domestication and Foreignization in the Translation of Food Commercial Advertisements from the Perspective of Skopos Theory

Abstract

The domestication and foreignization theory was proposed by the famous American translator Venuti in his book Translator’s Invisibility, which describes two different translation strategies. Foreignization is defined as deviating from the local mainstream values of the local community and adapting it to local rules and publishing trends, thereby diluting the strangeness of the original text. 

This article aims to analysis the features of domestication and foreignization in food advertising from the perspective of Skopos Theory. This article is divided into four parts, part one is the introduction of advertisement including its classification and characteristics, the second part introduces Skopos Theory, and then part three and part four specifically analyze the translation methods of domestication and foreignization. Practical application and their advantages are listed in part three and part four from the perspective of the Skopos Theory.

The purpose of food advertisement translation is to promote goods to international market and make profit from them. Based on the essence of the original text and the characteristics of target language culture, translators should take language as a tool and make a proper choice between domestication and foreignization strategies to guarantee the accuracy of the original text and the readability of the target translation to achieve the purpose perfectly.  

Key words: Skopos; Advertisement translation; Domestication and Foreignization